Free CauseWorld Mobile App Attains $1 Million in Donations

With 550,000 downloads in its first 5 months, CauseWorld became a simple, fast-growing way for consumers to donate to charities while shopping. The app, available for iPhone and Android, has now yielded over $1 million in donations, which its developers are calling a "mobile consumer phenomenon."
Users earn "karma points" for charity by checking-in via GPS to retail stores and restaurants. No purchase is necessary to earn points.
Through partnerships with Carbonfund.org and other leading charities, and monetary support from Citigroup, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and Sears, CauseWorld allows users to donate karmas collected to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting third-party validated carbon reduction projects, feed families in America, or provide clean water in developing countries.
"CauseWorld was a trial app we built to see if people will do more than just talk and text with their phones when they're out shopping," said shopkick Co-Founder and CEO Cyriac Roeding. "We had millions of check-ins in just the first weeks. In Manhattan there isn't a block left where users have not checked into a store or restaurant with CauseWorld."
The popular app has helped users provide clean water for 80,000 people for a month in Africa, offset 5.7 million pounds of carbon emissions, provide 336,000 meals and more.
shopkick is a Palo Alto-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins's iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn.
You can download the app right from Carbonfund.org's home page here.